I can't believe our sweet little Jesi is 5 years old!!! She has been our little helper ever since she was about a year old! When I ask her to do something, she gets a big smile on her face and says, "Okay, Mamma!" or "Sure, Mamma!" I've always wished they had little pull-out steps for her in the kitchen - like those old cutting boards that are built into kitchen cupboards! Last Fall she helped me pick all the leftover tomatoes and we attempted canning salsa for the first time. I think next time we'll just can tomatoes - salsa was a lot more work than I anticipated! And, I've been so scared of killing my family with botulism that we still have all that salsa sitting in the basement! I just found out that if you are worried that you didn't prepare or cook your canned tomato products according to the "Ball Blue Book" instructions, that you can boil your jar for 15 minutes to kill any botulism! Good to know! She also helped me remove tons of pits from plums to make the kids' favorite (since we moved here and have a plum tree) jam!
These pictures are of Jesi helping me do some dry packing at home. I had the crazy idea to borrow a canner from the cannery and had no idea how HEAVY they were! Luckily our counter is still in one piece and we only had one big spill from my sweet little helper. We canned wheat, barley, rye, rice, beans, and milk! And, I'm very glad we did that before I got pregnant because that canner was much too heavy to lift with a baby in my tummy!
I think from now on we'll just do our canning at the cannery, but oh the sweet memories!
Jesi is also our little organizer! She is always "organizing" something and I always feel very guilty reorganizing anything that she has so carefully "organized"! This is a picture of her with the magnet frames that she organized!
She loves to dress up - as in the last post with Kassi! I love it when she puts the gloves on her feet!
This year Jesi enjoyed rotating from our home to two other homes of kids in our neighborhood who will be attending Kindergarten next year. Twice a week we would hold preschool for about 3 hours and plan activities that started with the "letter of the week". Jesi was so good at planning activities that started with the right letter! I couldn't find the other pictures, but we had so much fun! For the letter 'B', we made homemade Bread and homemade Butter and had the kids blindfolded with the 'B' box - where they had to guess what the thing was that started with the letter 'B'. For the letter 'H' Jesi decided that we should make a big Hopscotch and some funny Hats. This week (above) we were learning the letter 'N' and we made Necklaces and Nests. I can't remember the other letters off the top of my head, but the kids had so much fun together and us Moms enjoyed our time with the kiddos before the big transition to Kindergarten next year!!! Wow, time flies and your little one is off to school!
We had a cousin's barbeque at our house with all of Andy's siblings and cousins in the area (except Darren and Cari unfortunately, who were out of town). We decided to celebrate Jason and Jesi's b-days after the dinner with some of Andy's Mom's infamous chocolate pudding cake! It was fun to see Andy's cousins who we just don't get together with enough! Now I'm determined to plan one for my side of the family as well! I love barbeques, esp. with family and friends!!!
Jesi announced shortly before her birthday that she wanted her cake to be "half Cinderella and half Strawberry Shortcake!" That was a pretty tall order for an amateur cake decorator like myself. So, I sent Andy off the night before in search of a Cinderella doll and a little Strawberry Shortcake. It was probably cheaper than buying a nasty store bought cake and Jesi was very excited for her new toys! Jesi is showing off her nails that were freshly painted that day. She chose to have her nails painted, paint with Mom, and watch a princess movie. I'm pretty sure it was Beauty and the Beast. The rest of the night is still to come in this post. Kassi got these pj's from her grandparents for her b-day and Jesi wanted a matching pair. I somehow found her size on the clearance rack in time for her b-day!!! I grew up with Strawberry Shortcake and Hello Kitty as well! Of course, Strawberry Shortcake wasn't quite so 'hip' back then!
Jesi really wanted to go to Chuck-e-Cheese for her birthday. So, we went out to eat and then stopped by for a little bit of fun with a few tokens! She loved this headband and shirt from Darren and Cari! In fact, she insisted on wearing them two days in a row!
Originally Jesi said she wanted to go to McDonalds for her b-day dinner. We reminded her that she doesn't care for hamburgers and every time we go there she is upset because we tell her she needs to eat before playing! So, we were happy that her second choice was Chuck-a-Rama! Her Grandpa McConkie would be proud - that was always his favorite place! The kids always have a blast there and we just walked in the door before the dinner pricing kicked in - yes we planned it that way :)! We found it amazing that both at Chuck-a-Rama and a store where we were ordering Andy a suit, an older person, knowing that it was Jesi's birthday, gave her a dollar bill! Andy and I thought between all of our kids, we could really start up a business that way!
Andy and Drew picked out this fun coloring/painting book for Jesi and she has thoroughly enjoyed it! She is definitely a little artist. She is always making sweet pictures and cards for people that brighten their day. She can be pretty shy, but is beginning to come more and more out of her shell and it is fun to watch! (She is rarely shy for us, but it takes a while for her to warm up to others.) She amazed us last Fall during the primary program. In front of the huge congregation, during the primary songs, she would belt out the song so that we could hear her voice above all the other children and she was twirling around in the front row on the stage for all to see. It was sooo cute! So, she has her moments when that shyness melts away and others can see the little girl that we love so much! She is such a sweet girl, always making profound statements that amaze us. She definitely has a good sense of who she is and where she came from. She knows that she is a princess because Heavenly Father is a king and she is His daughter. I hope she always remembers that and stands tall knowing that she is a daughter of God. We love you, Jesi! Happy belated b-day! Your silly mom is in tears now realizing how soon you will be leaving home and finding your prince!
I can't believe our sweet little Jesi is 5 years old!!! She has been our little helper ever since she was about a year old! When I ask her to do something, she gets a big smile on her face and says, "Okay, Mamma!" or "Sure, Mamma!" I've always wished they had little pull-out steps for her in the kitchen - like those old cutting boards that are built into kitchen cupboards! Last Fall she helped me pick all the leftover tomatoes and we attempted canning salsa for the first time. I think next time we'll just can tomatoes - salsa was a lot more work than I anticipated! And, I've been so scared of killing my family with botulism that we still have all that salsa sitting in the basement! I just found out that if you are worried that you didn't prepare or cook your canned tomato products according to the "Ball Blue Book" instructions, that you can boil your jar for 15 minutes to kill any botulism! Good to know! She also helped me remove tons of pits from plums to make the kids' favorite (since we moved here and have a plum tree) jam!
These pictures are of Jesi helping me do some dry packing at home. I had the crazy idea to borrow a canner from the cannery and had no idea how HEAVY they were! Luckily our counter is still in one piece and we only had one big spill from my sweet little helper. We canned wheat, barley, rye, rice, beans, and milk! And, I'm very glad we did that before I got pregnant because that canner was much too heavy to lift with a baby in my tummy!
I think from now on we'll just do our canning at the cannery, but oh the sweet memories!
Jesi is also our little organizer! She is always "organizing" something and I always feel very guilty reorganizing anything that she has so carefully "organized"! This is a picture of her with the magnet frames that she organized!
She loves to dress up - as in the last post with Kassi! I love it when she puts the gloves on her feet!
This year Jesi enjoyed rotating from our home to two other homes of kids in our neighborhood who will be attending Kindergarten next year. Twice a week we would hold preschool for about 3 hours and plan activities that started with the "letter of the week". Jesi was so good at planning activities that started with the right letter! I couldn't find the other pictures, but we had so much fun! For the letter 'B', we made homemade Bread and homemade Butter and had the kids blindfolded with the 'B' box - where they had to guess what the thing was that started with the letter 'B'. For the letter 'H' Jesi decided that we should make a big Hopscotch and some funny Hats. This week (above) we were learning the letter 'N' and we made Necklaces and Nests. I can't remember the other letters off the top of my head, but the kids had so much fun together and us Moms enjoyed our time with the kiddos before the big transition to Kindergarten next year!!! Wow, time flies and your little one is off to school!
We had a cousin's barbeque at our house with all of Andy's siblings and cousins in the area (except Darren and Cari unfortunately, who were out of town). We decided to celebrate Jason and Jesi's b-days after the dinner with some of Andy's Mom's infamous chocolate pudding cake! It was fun to see Andy's cousins who we just don't get together with enough! Now I'm determined to plan one for my side of the family as well! I love barbeques, esp. with family and friends!!!
Jesi announced shortly before her birthday that she wanted her cake to be "half Cinderella and half Strawberry Shortcake!" That was a pretty tall order for an amateur cake decorator like myself. So, I sent Andy off the night before in search of a Cinderella doll and a little Strawberry Shortcake. It was probably cheaper than buying a nasty store bought cake and Jesi was very excited for her new toys! Jesi is showing off her nails that were freshly painted that day. She chose to have her nails painted, paint with Mom, and watch a princess movie. I'm pretty sure it was Beauty and the Beast. The rest of the night is still to come in this post. Kassi got these pj's from her grandparents for her b-day and Jesi wanted a matching pair. I somehow found her size on the clearance rack in time for her b-day!!! I grew up with Strawberry Shortcake and Hello Kitty as well! Of course, Strawberry Shortcake wasn't quite so 'hip' back then!
Jesi really wanted to go to Chuck-e-Cheese for her birthday. So, we went out to eat and then stopped by for a little bit of fun with a few tokens! She loved this headband and shirt from Darren and Cari! In fact, she insisted on wearing them two days in a row!
Originally Jesi said she wanted to go to McDonalds for her b-day dinner. We reminded her that she doesn't care for hamburgers and every time we go there she is upset because we tell her she needs to eat before playing! So, we were happy that her second choice was Chuck-a-Rama! Her Grandpa McConkie would be proud - that was always his favorite place! The kids always have a blast there and we just walked in the door before the dinner pricing kicked in - yes we planned it that way :)! We found it amazing that both at Chuck-a-Rama and a store where we were ordering Andy a suit, an older person, knowing that it was Jesi's birthday, gave her a dollar bill! Andy and I thought between all of our kids, we could really start up a business that way!
Andy and Drew picked out this fun coloring/painting book for Jesi and she has thoroughly enjoyed it! She is definitely a little artist. She is always making sweet pictures and cards for people that brighten their day. She can be pretty shy, but is beginning to come more and more out of her shell and it is fun to watch! (She is rarely shy for us, but it takes a while for her to warm up to others.) She amazed us last Fall during the primary program. In front of the huge congregation, during the primary songs, she would belt out the song so that we could hear her voice above all the other children and she was twirling around in the front row on the stage for all to see. It was sooo cute! So, she has her moments when that shyness melts away and others can see the little girl that we love so much! She is such a sweet girl, always making profound statements that amaze us. She definitely has a good sense of who she is and where she came from. She knows that she is a princess because Heavenly Father is a king and she is His daughter. I hope she always remembers that and stands tall knowing that she is a daughter of God. We love you, Jesi! Happy belated b-day! Your silly mom is in tears now realizing how soon you will be leaving home and finding your prince! 
Wow! I didn't realize Jessi will be going into kindergarten this year! Megan is very excited to play with her this summer!
ReplyDeleteI love the gloved feet picture...my kids call that chicken feet. :)
ReplyDeletePrincess Jessi is just perfect! :)